A Bristol startup has raised £7.7 million for its cloud software that helps retailers keep their businesses in check

Brightpearl director Charles Grimsdale.
Brightpearl
Bristol startup Brightpearl has raised £7.7 million ($11 million) for its cloud management software that helps retailers manage their businesses. Total investment in the company now stands at £21.4 million ($30.5 million).

The latest funding round comes from venture capitalists including Eden Ventures, MMC Ventures, and Notion Capital, as well as a loan from Silicon Valley Bank and Columbia Lake Partners.

Founded in 2007, Brightpearl's retail and inventory management software aims to help small and medium-size retailers and wholesalers expand and compete with larger rivals by streamlining their sales and supply chains. Businesses use Brightpearl's platform for accounting, inventory, purchasing, customer relationship management (CRM), shipping, and point of sale.

Retailers can integrate the Brightpearl platform with a number of third party systems so they can offer their customers the option to buy products and services from other sites. Amazon, eBay, FedEx, and Shopify can all be integrated with Brightpearl.

The company, which currently has 1,400 customers in 30 countries, said it will use the funding to accelerate the growth of its sales and marketing operation in San Francisco, California. It will also use it to grow its engineering, service, and support teams.

Andrew Hunter, director at Silicon Valley Bank said: "This is an exciting time for Brightpearl. We're delighted to provide debt funding at this milestone - enabling the team to accelerate growth in 2016 and beyond.

"The software Brightpearl provides its clients makes a big difference to their businesses, enhancing their ability to scale rapidly and stay efficient. Silicon Valley Bank is committed to the thriving SaaS (software-as-a-service) market and we look forward to building a longstanding relationship with Brightpearl as it goes from strength to strength."